Costco hearing aids. Appointment wait times?

To get a repair or cleaning from Costco in the Chicago western suburbs is less than a week. I have a KS9 and I suspect either my receiver or receiver wire is starting to act up. It quit, threw it in the dehumidifier, waited a couple more days and it worked, but a couple hours later, the static came back. Inhave an appointment to have it looked at on Saturday.

I set up another appointment to get a hearing test and see if there is another new back-up to my primary hearing aid that I like. That appointment was det three eeeks out. So to get a heariing test and try out their hearing aid is 2-3 weeks.

My wait at Costco for my hearing test was 5 days and then a week before my Philips 9040s were fitted. My Costco Hearing Center is in Royal Palm Beach, FL. I have never waited more than a week for an appointment.

@AbramBaileyAuD said:

If I’m making a list it seems like the main drawbacks of costco are:

They refer out for complex cases (tinnitus/unilateral, asymmetric, or severe loss/conductive losses, exceptionally poor word rec, wax)

Im going to push back on this being a negative. Since costco techs aren’t medical, referring out for conductive, asymmetry, or poor word rec is the correct thing to do for the patient.

Many non costco clinics won’t even run testing to state requirements, let alone refer out when they should, because that would affect their fat commission.

@Benji said:

Many non costco clinics won’t even run testing to state standards, let alone refer out when they should, because that would affect their fat commission.

I’m going to push back on this as a negative. In my experience, most doctors and practitioners are decent people who aren’t primarily looking to gouge people. Most doctors and practitioners do the right thing. Let’s not paint with a broad brush, and needlessly add to the rampant cynicism all about.

@Benji said:

Im going to push back on this being a negative. Since costco techs aren’t medical, referring out for conductive, asymmetry, or poor word rec is the correct thing to do for the patient.

He said those are the kinds of cases for which (non-Costco) audiologists got referrals from Costco. So, this isn’t about medical referrals. Certain conditions like asymmetric loss do require referral to a medical doctor for evaluation, in case there’s a medical condition needing treatment. But that doesn’t mean the patient can’t come back to the audiologist for hearing aids.